Publication: Tsunami hazard at the Western Mediterranean Spanish coast from
seismic sources
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Publication Date
2011
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Springer Verlag
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Abstract
Spain represents an important part of the tourism
sector in theWestern Mediterranean, which has been affected
in the past by tsunamis. Although the tsunami risk at the
Spanish coasts is not the highest of the Mediterranean, the
necessity of tsunami risk mitigation measures should not be
neglected. In the Mediterranean area, Spain is exposed to
two different tectonic environments with contrasting characteristics.
On one hand, the Alboran Basin characterised
by transcurrent and transpressive tectonics and, on the other
hand, the North Algerian fold and thrust belt, characterised
by compressive tectonics. A set of 22 seismic tsunamigenic
sources has been used to estimate the tsunami threat over the
Spanish Mediterranean coast of the Iberian peninsula and
the Balearic Islands. Maximum wave elevation maps and
tsunami travel times have been computed by means of numerical
modelling and we have obtained estimations of threat
levels for each source over the Spanish coast. The sources on
the Western edge of North Algeria are the most dangerous,
due to their threat to the South-Eastern coast of the Iberian
Peninsula and to theWestern Balearic Islands. In general, the
Northern Algerian sources pose a greater risk to the Spanish
coast than the Alboran Sea sources, which only threaten
the peninsular coast. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish
provinces of Almeria and Murcia are the most exposed, while
all the Balearic Islands can be affected by the North Algerian
sources with probable severe damage, specially the islands of
Ibiza and Minorca. The results obtained in this work are useful
to plan future regional and local warning systems, as well
as to set the priority areas to conduct research on detailed
tsunami risk.